The Greensborough patriot [April 30, 1861]

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VOL. XXIII GREENSBOROUGH, N. C, APRIL 30, 1861. NO. 1,136.
<C{rt (Bmnsbarongfr patriot.
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CORRESPONDENCE
Between Mr. Scward and the Confederate
States Committee.
The following; is the correspondence be-tween
the Secretary of State and the Com-missioners
from the Confederate States :
Washington City, March 12, 1861.
Hon. Wm. Soward, Secretary of State of
the United States :—
Sir—The undorsigned have been duly ac-credited
by the government of the Confed-erate
States of America as Commissioners to
the United States, and in pursuance of their
instructions have now the honor to acquaint
you with the fact, and to make known
through you, to the President of the United
States, the objects of their presence in this
Capital.
Seven States of the late federal Union hav-ing,
in the exercise of the inherent right of
every free people, to chaugs or reform their
political institutions, and throngh conven-tions
of their people, withdrawn from the
United States, and reassumed the attributes
of sovereign power delegated to it, have form-ed
a government of their own. The Con-federate
States constitute an independent
nation, dcfacto and de jure, and possess a
fovernment perfect in all its parts and en-owed
with all the means of self-support.
With a view to a speedy adjustment of all
questions growing out of this political separa-tion,
upon such terms of amity and good will
as the respective interests, geographical con-tiguity
and future welfare of the two nations
may render necessary, the undersigned are
instructed to make to the Government of the
United Slates overtures for the opening of
negotiations, assuring the government of the
United States that tho President, Congress
and the people of the Confederate States ear-nestly
desire, a peaceful solution of these
great questions ; that it is neither their in-terest
nor their wish to make any demand
whi-jh is not founded in strictest justice, nor
to do any act to injuro their lato confeder-ates.
Tho undersigned have now tho honor, in
obedience to the instructions of their govern-ment,
to request you to appoint as early a
day as possible in order that they may pro-sent
to the President of the United States
the credentials which they bear and the ob-jects
as the mission with which they
charged. Wo are, very respectfully,
your obedient servants.
JOHN FORSYTH,
MARTIN J. CRAWFORD.
Till: REPLT OF MR. SEWARD.
MEMORANDUM.
Department of State, )
Washington, March 15, 1801. \
Mr. John Forsy'h, of tho State of Alabama,
and Mr. Martin J. Crawford, of the State of
Georgia, on the 11th inst., throngh tho kind
offices of a disti nguished Senator, submitted
to the Secretary of State their desire for an
unofficial interview. This request was, on
tho 12th inst., upon exclusive public consid-erations,
respectfully declined.
On the 19th inst./while the Secretary was
preoccupied, Mr. A D. Banks, of Virginia,
called at this department and was received
by the Assistaut Secretary, to whom ho de-livered
a sealed communication, which ho
has been charged by Messrs. Forsyth and
Crawford to present to the Secretary in per-son.
In that communication, Messrs. Forsyth
& Crawford inform'the Secretary of State that
they have been duly accredited by the gov-ernment
of the Confederate States of Ameri-ca
as Commission*rs to the government of
the United States, and they set forth the ob-jects
of their attendance at Washington.—
They observe that seven State of tho Ameri-can
Union, in tho oxercise of a right inher-ent
in every free people, have withdrawn,
through conventions of their people, from
the United States, reassumed the attributes
of sovereign power, and formed a govern-ment
of their own, and that those Confeder-ate
States now constitute an independent na-tion
defacto and dejure, and possess a gov-are
sir.
ernment perfect in all its parts and filly en-dowed
with all the means of self-support.
Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford, in their
aforesaid communication, thereupon proceed
to inform the Secretary that, with a view to
a speedy adjustment of all questions growing
out of the political separation thus assumed,
upon such terms of amity and good wih as
the respective interests, geographical contig-uity
and the fhl ire welfare of the supposed
two nations might render necessary, they are
instructed to r ike to the government of the
United States overtures for the opening of
negotiations assuring this government that
the President, Congress and people of the
Confederate St tes earnestly desire a peace-ful
solution of these groat questions, and
that it is neither their interests nor their
wish to make any demand which is not foun-ded
in strictest justice, nor to do any act to
injure their lato confederates.
After making these statement, Messrs.
Forsyth and Crawford close their communi-cation,
as they say, in obedience to tho in-structions
of their government, by requesting
the Secretary of State to appoint as early a
day as possible, in order that they may pre-sent
to the President of the United States
the credentials which they bear and the ob-jects
of the mission with which they are
charged.
The Secretary of State frankly confesses
that he understands the events which have
recently occurred, and the condition of po-litical
affairs which actually exists in the
part of the Union to which his attention has
thus been directed, very differently from the
aspect in which they are presented by Mes-srs.
Forsyth and Crawford. He sees in them
not a rightful and accomplished revolution
and an independent nation, with an estab-lished
government but rather a perversion of
a temporary and partisan excitement to the
inconsiderate purposes of an unjustifiable and
unconstitutional aggression upon the rights
and authority vested in the Federal Govern-ment,
and hitherto benignly exercised, as
from their very nature they always must be
so exercised, for the maintenance of the Un-ion,
the preservation of liberty, and the se-curity,
peace, v-elfare, happiness and aggran-dizement
of the American people. The Se-cretary
of State, therefore, avows to Mes-srs.
Forsyth and Crawford, that ho looks pa-tiently
for the cure of evils which have re-sulted
from proceedings so unnecessary, so
unwise, so unusuai and unnatural, not to ir-regular
negotiations, having in view new
and untried relations with agencies unknown
to and acting in derogation of the Constitu-tion
and laws, but to regular and considerate
action of the people of those Stales, in co-operation
with their brethren in the other
States, through the Congress of the United
States, and such extraordinary conventions,
if there shall be need thereof, as tho Federal
Constitution contemplates and authorizes to
bo assembled.
It is, however, the purpose of the Secreta-ry
of State on this occasion not to invite or
engage in any discussion of these subjects,
but simply to set forth his reasons for declin-ing
to comply with the request ot Messrs. For~
syth and Crawford.
On the 4th of March inst., the thon newly
elected President of tho United States, in
view of all tho facts bearing on the present
question, assumed the executivo administra-tion
of the government, first delivering, in
accordance with an early and honored cus
torn, an inaugural address to tho people of
tho United Slates. The Secretary of State
respecfully submits a copy of this address
to Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford.
A simple referonco to it will be sufficient
to satisfy those gentlemen that the Secrotary
of State, guided by the principles therein an-nounced,
is prevented, altogether from ad-mitting
or assuming that the States referred
to by them have, in law or in fact, withdrawn
from the federal Union, or that they could
do so in the manner described by Messrs. For-syth
and Crawford, or in any other manner
than with tho consent and concert of the
people of the United States, to be given
through a national convention, to be assem-bled
in conformity with the provisions of tho
constitution of the United States. Of-course
the Secretary of State cannot act upon the
assumption or in any way admit that the
so-called Confederate States constitute a for-eign
power, with whom diplomatic relations
ought to be established.
Under these circumstances the Secretary
of State, whose official duties are confined,
subject to the direction of the President, to
the conducting of the foreign relations of
the country, and do not at all embrace do-mestic
questions or questions arising between
the several States and tbe Federal Govern-ment,
is unable to comply with the request
of Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford, to appoint
a day on which they may present the evi-dences
of their authority and the objects of
their visit to the President of the United
States. On the contrary, he is obliged to
state to Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford that
he has no auchority nor is be at liberty to
recognize them as diplomatic agents, or hold
correspondence or other communication with
them.
Finally, the Secretary of State would ob-serve
that, although he has supposed that
he might safely and with propriety have ad-opted
these conclusions without making any
reference of the subject to the JSxocutive,
yet so strong has been his desire to practise
entire directness and to act in a spirit of per
feet respect and candor towards Messrs.
Forsyth and Crawford, and that portion of
tho people of the Union in whose name they
present themselves before him, that he has
cheerfully submitted this paper to the Presi-dent,
who coincides generally in the views
it expresses, and sanctions the Secretary's
decision declining official intercourse with
Messrs. Forsyth and Crawford.
April 18, 1661.
The foregoing memorandum was filed in
this Department on the 15th of March last.
A delivery of tbe same, however, to Messrs.
Forsyth and Crawford was delayed, as was
understood with their consent. They have
now through their Secretary communicated
their desire for a definitive disposition of the
subject. Tho Secretary of State therefore
directs that a duly verified copy of the paper
be now delivered-
A true copy of the original, delivered to
me by Mr. F. W. Seward, Assistant Secre-tary
of State of the Uuitod States, on April
8, 1861. at 2: 15 P. M., in blank envelope.
Attest, J.T. PICKETT,
Secretary to the Commissioners.
THE COMMISSIONERS' REPLY TO MR. SEWAND.
Washington, April 9, 1861.
Hon. W. H. Soward, Secretary of State of
tho United States, Washington :—
The "memorandum" dated Department of
State, Washington, March 15, 1861, with
postcript under date of 8th instant, has been
received through the hands of Mr. J. T. Pic-kett.
Secretary to this commission, who, by
the instructions of the undersigned, called
for it on yesterday at the department.
In that memorandum you correctly state
the purport of tho official note addressed to
you by the undersigned on tho 12th ultimo.
Without repeating the contents of that note
in full, it is enough to say here that its ob-ject
was to invite tho government of the
United States to a friendly consideration of
the relations between the United States and
the seven States lately of the federal Union,
but now separate from it by the sovereign
will of their people, growing out of the preg-nant
and undeniable fact that these people
have rejected tho authority of the United
States and established a government of their
own. Those relations had to be friendly or
hostile. Tho people of the old and new gov-ernments,
occupying contiguous territories,
had to stand to oach other iq, the relation of
good ueighbers, each seeking their happi-ness
and pursuing their natioual destinies in
their own way, without interference with
the other, or they had to be rival and hostile
nations. The government of the Confederate
State has no hesitation in electing its choice
in this alternative. Frankly and unreserv-edly,
seeking the good of tho people who had
entrusted them with power, in tho spirit of
humanity, of tho Christian civilization of the
age, and of that Americanism which regards
the true welfare and happiness of the people,
tho government of the Confederate States,
among its first acts, commissioned the un-dersigned
to approach the government of
the Linked States with the olive branch of
peace, and to offer to adjust the great ques-tions
pending between them in the only way
to bejustified by the consciences and common
sense of good men who had nothing but the
welfare of the people of tho two confederacies
at heart.
Your government has not chosen to meet
the undersigned in the conciliatory and
peaceful spirit in which they are commission-ed.
Persistently wedded to those fatal theo-ries
of construction of tho federal constitu-tion
always rejected by the statesmen of the
South, and adhered to by those ofthe admin-istration
school, until they have proved their
natural and often predicted result of the de-struction
of tho Union, under which wo
might have continued to livo happily and
gloriously together had the spirit of tho an-cestry
who framed the common constitution
animated tho hearts of all their sons, yoa
now, with a persistence untaught and uncur-ed
by tho ruin which has been wrought, re-fuse
to recognise the great fact presented to
you of a completed and successful revolution ;
you close your eyes to tbe existence of the
government founded upon it, and ignore the
high duties of moderation and humanity
which attach to you in dealing with this
groat fact. Had you met those issues with
the franknessand manliness with which the
I undeisigned were instructed to present them
j to you and treat them, the undersigned had
not now the melancholy duty to return home
and teil their government and their country-men
that their earnest and ceaseless efforts
in behalf of peace had been futile, and that
the government of the United States meant
to subjugate them by force of arms. What-ever
maybe tho result, impartial history will
record the innocence of the government of
the Confederate States, and place the respon-sibility
of the blood and mourning that may
ensue upon those who have denied the great
fundamental doctrine of" American liborty,
that "governments derive their just powers
from the consent of tho governed," and who
have set naval and land armaments in mo-tion
to subject the people ot one portion of
this land to tho will of another portion.—
That that can never be dono while a freeman
survives in the Confederate States to wield a
weapon, the undersigned appeal to past his-tory
to prove. These military demonstrations
against tbe people of the seceded States are
certainly far from being in keeping and con-sistency
with theory of the Secretary of
State, maintained in his memorandum, that
these State are still component parts of tho
late American Union, as tbe undorsigned are
not aware of any constituti Dnal power in the
President of the United States to levy war
without the consent of Congress upon a for-eign
people, much less upen any portion of
the people of the United .States.
The undersigned, like the Secretary of
State, have no purpqse to "invite or engage
in discussion " of the subject on which their
two governments are so irreconcilably at va-riance.
It is this variance that has broken
up tho old Union, the disintegration of which
has only begun. It is proper, however, to
advise you that it were well to dismiss the
hopes you seem to entertain that, by any cf
the modes indicated, the people of tho Con-federate
States will ever bo brought to sub-mit
to tho authority of tho government of the
United States. You are dealing with delu-sions,
too, when you seek t D separate our peo-ple
lrora our government and to characterize
the deliberate, sovereign act of that people as
a " perversion of a temporary and partisan
excitement." If you cherish these dreams vou
will be awakened from them and find thorn as
unreal and unsubstantial as others in which
you have recently indulged. The undersigned
would omit tho performance of an obvious
duty, were they to fail to make known to the
government of tho United Slates that the
people of the Confederate States, have de-clared
their independence with a full knowl-edge
of all the responsibilities of that act, and
with as firm a determination to maintaia it
by all the means with which nature has en-dowed
them as that which sustained their
fathers when they threw ofT the authority of
the British crown.
Tho undersigned clearly understand that
you have declined to appoint a day to enable
them to lay the objects of the mission with
which they are charged before tho President
of the United States, because so to do wonId
be to recognize the independence and separ-ate
nationality of the Confederate States. This
is the vein of thought that pervades the mem-randum
before us. The truth of history re-quires
that it should distinctly appear upon
the record that the undersigned did not ask
the government oftbe United States to recog-nize
the independence of the Confederate
States. They only asked audience to adjust,
in a spirit of amity and peace, tho new rela-tions
springing from a manifest and accom-f)
lished revolution in the government of the
ate federal Union. Your refusal to entertain
these overtures for a peaceful solution, the ac-tive
naval ana military preparation of this
government, and a formal notice to the com-manding
general of the Confederate forces in
the harbor of Charleston that tho President
intends to provision Fort Sumtcr by forcible
means, if necessary, aro viewed by tho under-signed,
and can only be received by the world,
as a declaration of war against the Confeder-ate
States; for the President of the Uuitod
States knows that Fort Sumpter cannot bo
provisioned without tho effusion of blood.
The undersigned, in behalf of the govern-ment
and people, accept the gage of battle
thus thrown down to them; and, appealing
to (rod and the judgment of mankind for the
righteousness of their cause, tho people of the
Confederate States will defend their liberties
to the last against this flagrant and open at-tempt
at their subjugation to sectional power.
This communication cannot be properly
closed without adverting ;o the date of your ■
memorandum. The official note of the un-dersigned,
of tho 12th March, was delivered
I to the Assistant Secretary of State on the 13th